Here we go, off to Part IV. This is my absolute favorite part. I loved coming up with each and every chapter so much. It has the saddest, most dramatic, sweetest, funniest, and most poignant moments. I have three chapters left to write, and feel both excited and sad about this journey coming to an end soon.

Oh yeah, before I forget (at LobbyLane and everyone who has been wondering about House's current employment status), House is working at PPTH, but only because Foreman was nice enough to employ him after he got out of his second imprisonment. House faked his own death in order to avoid a prison sentence, and I assume this to be a pretty big deal (I admit I'm not familiar with the law about this). Anyways, in my story they pulled his license from him, and Foreman gave him a badly paid job (as an intern or a janitor or whatever) so House could at least unofficially still do what he enjoys: diagnose. It is quite a powerless position for him, though, because he has no team and no real say about the patients Foreman assigns him. He's a consultant, basically. So his life has been really shitty since Wilson's death, and he mostly let life just happen to him instead of taking an active part in it. At the time the story starts, his self-esteem is completely down the toilet.

BUT: We're in the middle of change.

Have fun with the chapter! And thanks again for all the nice comments. I really appreciate them (special shout out to my hard-core homies X-D).

Part IV

Chapter 27: The Move

Cuddy gets offered the job at Princeton General, and they move in the summer of 2021. Sam finds them a beautiful house in Lawrenceville, and House aids Cuddy in getting a good deal on her property in New Haven by acting like a bidder and elevating the price. Cuddy's folks help her move while the kids are away at camp, and by the end of the summer, they live about a twenty-minute drive away from his apartment.

In the first two to three months, they more or less stick to the schedule they had set up, but then the lines start to blur, and House finds himself spending more and more time in their home. He much rather drives to them after work than to his own empty apartment. Cuddy gave him a key to the house, and he often arrives there before her. He usually helps the kids with their homework or plays with them, makes music with John or dinner with Rachel.

He and Cuddy remain on friendly territory, and he is fine with that. When he has the kids on a Saturday or a Sunday, he always welcomes her to join them; sometimes she does, sometimes she is busy with work or running errands. One Saturday in late August, they visit the Princeton University Art Museum together, and have ice cream at Palmer Square afterwards, enjoying the last rays of the summer sun.

House occasionally wonders if maybe Cuddy is seeing someone, especially when she comes home late several days of the week, but he is determined not to pry. Not sniffing around goes against his nature, but considering how he felt during the time she was dating Lucas, he decides to rather not know.

He focuses on their friendship and on being supportive, and half a year after she started working at Princeton General, she is actually the one helping him. Joining forces with Foreman, she pulls a few strings in her position as Dean and manages, subject to the fulfillment of certain requirements, for him to get his medical license back.

House has already started putting some of his savings away into trust funds for Rachel and John in order to help finance their education, but the increase in salary puts him in an even more comfortable position, moneywise, and he approaches Cuddy about paying alimony for John.

She seems surprised about his offer. "All right. If you want to."

"And I want custody," House adds.

Her face falls slightly and she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Ay, there's the rub. Everything comes at a price, doesn't it?" she raises her eyebrows at him.

"It's not a tit for tat," he states earnestly. "My offer is unconditional. I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm not officially his dad on any piece of paper."

Cuddy seems uncertain about his motive. "What exactly do you want?"

"I'll leave that up to you." He knows that she is generally more reasonable when she feels in control over delicate matters. "I just want to be allowed at his hospital bed if something were ever to happen to him. I don't want to have to fight Julia in court if something were ever to happen to you. With my record, I'd certainly lose."

She nods understandingly. "All right. I'll look into it."

"Thank you."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

They settle on joint legal custody, with Cuddy having primary physical custody and the final say if they were ever to disagree over a major issue. Before finalizing the papers, they ask John for his opinion on the topic. They sit him down one night after dinner, breaking the news to him.

"What would that change?" John asks them.

"Nothing, really," House explains. "It's just a piece of paper verifying that I'm your dad. So I can obtain information about you from schools and doctors, fetch you from jail, stuff like that."

Cuddy shoots House an annoyed look before she focuses on John. "When you were born, I didn't have it written on your birth certificate that House was your father. It's just to state this officially. It gives House some legal rights."

"So, should I call you 'Dad', then?" John shyly glances at House.

The question takes House completely by surprise. He stares at John for a moment, his jaw dropping slightly. "I don't know… You, uh, you don't have to," he stammers. "Does it feel to you that I am?"

John ponders the question. "Yeah, I guess. I always have to explain to my friends why I call you Greg although you're actually my real dad."

House runs his thumb over his forehead, feeling both happy and insecure. "All right," he exhales carefully. "I mean, if it's okay with your mom." He looks at Cuddy with uncertainty.

She seems to be having mixed feelings about it as well, but eventually raises her eyebrows and decisively says: "Yeah, of course." She ruffles John's hair. "You can if you want to. You don't actually have to decide right now, though. Try it out, see what you feel the most comfortable with," she suggests. "Does that sound good?"

John nods.

When House picks up Rachel from a friend's house an hour later, he informs her about the news.

"What about me?" she asks.

House squints at her, unsure what she means. "You wanna call me 'Dad', too?" He looks at her doubtfully, disliking the idea. He has always been quite fond of her calling him 'House' just like Cuddy.

"No, douche. How weird would that be?" She looks out the window without any further elaboration.

He furrows his brows, wondering about the motive behind her question. "You afraid you might stop being my favorite?"

She turns her head at him in surprise, taking him seriously.

"Don't worry, I tell John the same thing," he messes with her.

She ignores him, an annoyed expression crossing her face.

"Oh come on, it was a joke. What's this about?"

"Nothing." She folds her arms in front of her and stares out the window again. "Forget it."

She has started showing this kind of behavior recently, closing off and feeling misunderstood. House mostly attributes it to the onset of puberty. Besides that, she was, and still is, having a bit of a difficult time adjusting. She is attending her last year of middle school and is the only new student in her class. She quit playing soccer, claiming that her coach was an ass, and she frequently voices that she finds people 'down here' snobby and weird. House believes that she will feel less of an outsider once she starts High School, and he has told her as much.

Rachel actually texted House when she had gotten her first period about two months ago, asking him to bring her tampons because she was too embarrassed to buy them herself.

"It's not a big deal," he told her when he reached the house after work, handing her the box he had snatched from the hospital. "Half the population gets them at some point. Actually, a little less than half, because there exist about sixty Million more men than women in the world. Which is a shame, when you think about it. Maybe men would fight less with a surplus of opportunities to mate."

She rolled her eyes at him and started making her way to the bathroom.

"You know how to use them?" he called after her.

She turned around with a sigh. "Seriously?"

"You have no idea how many women have been in the clinic, complaining to me about how uncomfortable they were, especially when sitting down. Turned out they thought the little plastic insertion helper was an essential part of the tampon and had left it attached."

Rachel laughed out loud. "That must have been pre Internet. I'm sure there are millions of tutorials even on that topic. Which I don't need, by the way."

House smiled to himself after she had left for the bathroom, and felt slightly proud she had texted him and not Cuddy.

When he has to stop the car at a red light, he glances over at the passenger seat and tries to reach out to her one last time. "If you're ever hospitalized, I'll blackmail the nurse to let me in. Or I'll disguise as the janitor. I do get confused with him frequently at work."

"Whatever," she replies, shrugging her shoulders. This was one of her favorite words lately, and House gives up trying to get through to her.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

House is mostly in touch with the kids, and announces to them before he stops by. He is glad he does not have to check with Cuddy each time, and feels welcome at their place.

One Friday night he arrives at the house to find Cuddy on the couch by herself, reading some papers while eating dinner. "Hey. What are you doing here?" She looks surprised to see him. "Didn't the kids tell you they went out with their cousins?"

House reaches for his phone to check his messages. "Yeah. About ten minutes ago." He waves his arm upward in a shrug, pulling one corner of his mouth to the side. "I definitely need to work with them on their communication skills. And the concept of time and distance."

"Sorry." She looks genuinely empathetic he came all the way out to find them gone.

He shrugs his shoulders again and is about to turn around when she stops him.

"Stay," she suggests. "If you want," she adds tentatively, then gestures towards the kitchen. "I cooked plenty. It should still be warm."

House contemplates her offer for a moment. This form of being together was unusual for them. Of course there had been moments they had spent just the two of them, but it was always the result of the kids having gone to bed or to play outside, never a conscious decision. He feels awkward to stay but rude to leave, so he decides to take the middle ground.

"Only if you let me watch Rick 'n' Morty." He knows she hates that show and tries in his own way to set some ground rules. He does not want this to turn into a 'How was your day, honey' sort of evening.

"The remote's all yours," she says dryly, tossing it towards the empty space next to her on the couch.

He takes off his jacket and makes himself at home, and the evening turns out pleasant enough. He eats while watching his show, she works, asks him if he wants a cup of tea, they chat a little about Foreman's new girlfriend, and when she tucks away her papers, he switches the program to an action movie starring Owen Wilson, which gets her to smirk.

During a commercial break he goes to the bathroom to pee. On his return, he finds Cuddy asleep on the couch. He covers her with a blanket and sits back down carefully, deciding to finish watching the movie and then leave.

In the middle of a thrilling car chase with guns blazing and tires squeaking, Cuddy startles awake with a jerk. Her hands fly up in front of her, warding off an imaginary attack. Her breath is coming out in heavy puffs. When she catches sight of House, her eyes wide with shock, he sees fear travel across her face, followed by recognition and sorrow.

He knows what her dream was about, and turns off the TV. They had not addressed the topic since it came up during and after their session with Helen. He rubs his leg and waits for her to calm down.

It takes her a moment to orient herself, her eyes travelling around the room. When she notices the blanket on top of her, she pulls it up to her chin, relaxing slightly. She rests her head back on the cushions, and her breathing returns to normal. Eventually, she focuses her gaze on House, and he sees tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"How could you do that, House?" she asks, her head turning gently from side to side. Her tone is quiet and void of all accusation. All he hears is pain and incomprehension. "I trusted you with my life."

He has asked himself this question many times, but never managed to come up with an adequate answer. "Maybe I didn't want you to trust me anymore." His mouth is dry, and his voice sounds raw to his own ears. "I didn't want you in my life anymore. I didn't want to have to see you again, every day. It hurt." He scratches his chin. "So, I did something so extreme you wouldn't forgive it. Couldn't forgive it." This is as far of an explanation he can offer.

Her eyes search his face sadly. "And now? You still think I can't forgive you? Or that I shouldn't?"

He shakes his head slowly. "I don't know," he whispers, because he truly has no answer for her. "For a long time, I thought it was good. For you and for me. Not what I did, but to have that cut." His hand moves back to his leg. "I do know that what I did was horrible."

She tugs in her lower lip and closes her eyes briefly.

"I'm ashamed of it," he admits. "And for what it's worth, I am sorry for the pain it caused you."

Cuddy swallows and nods slightly. "Thank you," she says through her tears, and he can barely look at her.

He has nothing else to say, so he rises from the couch. "I'm gonna head home."

She sniffs her nose. "Okay."